The Road to Life
by AGENT Kuma-chan
Summary: Collection. There are so many destinations and side-stops on this path that it's hard to keep track of them all or even remember the original end point. 10. He is everywhere and she can't tell if he will engulf her or leave her to drown. Sakura, Sasuke
1. Reconnect

**Title: **Reconnect

**Fandom:** Naruto

**Day/Theme:** March 1/love is the process of me gently leading you back to yourself

**Character/Pairing: ** Team Seven, hints of NaruSakuSasu

**A/N:** Actually, this is one of my favourite pairings. Anyways, yet another collection of one-shots. Feel free to request characters or pairings. Hopefully, I'll update this once a week.

**Excerpt:** _It takes them time, lots of time, for Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke to become Team Seven once more. _

…

…

…

…

…

It takes them time, lots of time, for Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke to become Team Seven once more. Even then, they aren't really team seven but just a group that is hung loosely together by long forgotten past ties, more out of habit than anything else. They have changed so much that it is hard for them to realize how different they actually are.

Instead, they stubbornly cling to old observations and memories and hope that is the truth. Naruto and Sakura chase the dream that Sasuke will turn back into their old friend and Sasuke follows the idea that they are still weak and useless without him.

Except, they do realize that it isn't true anymore. At some point they do and there is no going back from there. Sasuke can never be that youth they smiled with and Sakura is so much stronger as a person, not hiding herself as much, and Naruto…

He's still a constant, only he has grown more reliable. Naruto is the one they fall back to when they the ground tilts and they are thrown head over heals into the world. At the very least he hasn't really changed and that is something solid.

(Naruto doesn't need to grab a pillar of support—his dreams are more than enough for him.)

Their paths were different and diverged years ago, like Sasuke said. They went down different roads, experienced different things, and to that extent he was right. However, what he failed to realize was that their destination was the same. Each river ends up in the ocean and like that they remain connected. It's a destiny they can't fight or stray from because unconsciously they are striving for it.

It will take them years to reconnect but they will. There is something to be said about love and trust, a belief so strong that time and reality cannot destroy it. Instead it just grows stronger, fed on meetings on the street and arguments over the dinner table. Small things like the warmth of a full bed and the comfortable silence in the morning add to it. Eventually, the awkwardness and unease will disappear and they will be all the more stronger for it.

Eventually they will connect.

(They will always try to reach that meeting point.)

…

…

…


	2. Changes

**Title:** Changes

**Fandom:** Naruto

**Theme:** 31. I'm laughing in the inside

**Character:** Sakura, mentions of Naruto and Pein

**A/N:** Warning, this is a spoiler of the recent chapters. And, the ending is my anger towards how strong Kishi makes the girls.

**Summary**: _It hurts to see familiar streets turn to dust. To see smiling faces covered with spots of blood. _

…

…

…

…

…

…

It hurts to see familiar streets turn into dust. There isn't even much rubble sticking out of the dirt, not enough for her recognize where her house used to be or the hospital once stood. All she can tell is that there is dirt, rubble, and the remains of what once used to be a monument to greatness. There are no trees left either, no forest where she would train when she was along or hide when she was little.

And if this is how Sakura feels about seeing her home turn into a wasteland, she doesn't even want to realize how she feels about the people. There is no smiling Shizune-nee-chan, ready with Tonton to force Tsunade-shishou to work. The tired but relieved faces of doctors and relatives alike as another patient pulls through. Her mother isn't yelling at her to come down for breakfast and there is no team to hang out with while they wait for the ramen to be made.

Life won't ever be the same but Sakura realizes this in a distant way. It doesn't touch her yet, reality hasn't fully sunk in, but she understands it all the same. When it does fully hit her, she'll hopefully be alone somewhere, able to cry fully without anyone seeing her.

(She doesn't want to be caught crying yet. Maybe a little later, but those first tears belong to her and to the dead alone.)

It still doesn't sink in when Naruto's saving them and Tsunade-shishou needs her. It's only when she holds the older woman's hands that she is brought back to the present and accepts that there is no way they can ever go back.

(And that's ironic, because hasn't that been what she and Naruto trying to do for years? To go back to a time when Sasuke-kun was a part of Team Seven?)

It's another sign of change when she watches their battle calmly. She isn't very worried or panicky, she isn't trying to help and feeling disappointed that she can't. Naruto's once again touched another level that she can't reach and she is fine with it.

He punches Pein and she nearly smiles.

(It's the closest she can ever get to revenge.)

…

…

…


	3. Pieces

**Title:** Pieces

**Fandom:** Naruto

**Theme:** 11. Touch me so I think I'm here

**Character:** Ino, Shikamaru, Choji

**Summary**: _Ino lost track of who she was too many times. They don't, luckily._

…

…

…

…

…

…

Ino only exists within the dimensions of her team and her friends. Outside of that, she isn't just Ino. She is Mayu and Yuuki and Kagura, she is sometimes a Kyo or Ichigo or even a Sumoshi. She can be a guy or a girl, old or young, depending on what is needed.

Sometimes it gets to be too much and she runs through her mind, opening doors in vain to find the one labeled 'Ino', to find the one that has her in it. She needs that, to find herself and no one else, but it is a hard job to do by herself. Especially when her fingers aren't her own and her eyes see a world that is someone else's. Her thoughts are a thousand different people's mixed together and her feelings aren't completely under her control either.

(Her work follows her home, trails after her like a shadow and she can't ever get rid of it.)

Shikamaru and Choji know how to deal with it, to deal with her when she gets angry over nothing and suddenly crying when a man that is not her father dies. They know what to do when she pulls herself up with limbs that she can't recognize anymore and friends that seem like a distant dream.

They rebuild her, piece by piece, like putting back the shards of a broken mug together. Shikamaru sometimes will remind her of something she wants to do and let her drag him away. He will complain and grumble but she needs that hand in hers, that warmth that she knows is hers to keep.

Choji brings her all sorts of food and hogs them all down with her. She might grow a little fatter or she might yell at him to grow thinner but he will pretend to consider it because a little of that is Ino and the rest is not. When it is all Ino, he will reject the idea completely and that helps her. There are some things only Ino can do and he leaves this safe for her to come back to.

And slowly, with a small touch here and a taunting comment there, they peel off each layer of not-Ino until they reach Ino. They keep going until they find the scars and the mark she insists is a birthmark, reminding her of each one as they go. They push past the false anger and sorrow while reminding her of her friends and dreams until those feelings become real.

Most of all, they are there at one in the morning when she wakes up drenched in sweat and gasping, the other people finally shoved back into the corners they belong. They are there when she reaches out for both of them and grabs them, turning back into the Ino they know.

It is worth all that trouble, even as they do this time after time, when she finally gives them her Ino smile.

-x-

Ino is only capable of doing her job because she knows Shikamaru and Choji are there for her. She can become anyone because she knows that 'Ino' is safe. Ino isn't with her anymore; she is split into two big pieces given to each boy. They keep each piece safe until she needs Ino back. Even then, they give her back slowly so that both pieces safely turn back into one.

Ino is able to change herself because they are always there to change her back.

…

…

…

…


	4. World Long Gone

**Title: **A world long gone

**Day/Prompt:** Sept 10 (2007)/To me, fair friend, you can never be old

**Characters:** Tsunade, Pein,

**A/N:** Yeah, this story started out differently. A lot differently. I was initially going to focus more on Tsunade's old team.

**Summary:** _They were both relics of a time long gone, and Pein did not understand that._

…

…

…

When Tsunade thought about it, it was funny. If the situation wasn't so dire, she would have laughed at the sheer absurdity of it. Pein was trying to get something impossible; he was trying to bring back the past.

The past was the past, she could have told him. They were both relics of a time long passed. The moment Minato died, no the moment Minato became the fourth, they were made obsolete. Everyone from those war strewn times were just clinging to a present that was no longer existed. The future came and left them with something they didn't belong to.

Tsunade shouldn't have become the fifth, a loop in the track leading to a dead end. If there had been another candidate, she would have easily refused her position. As it was, she was clutching onto something just like Pein was, so maybe she shouldn't be laughing at him.

_I'm going to bring war, _Pein said. He was going to do this for his village.

She wanted to scorn him, scoff at his ideas. He was fighting for something that didn't exist anymore. He was fighting and he didn't realize what she had yet.

He hadn't realized that they were the only ones left from that time. There was no one else there but her, him, and that other girl that used to be with him. There was no one else left to mark what they used to be and what happened.

There was no point in fighting that. She could have told him that much. Now all that was left to do was watch the present change again and wait for their time to go. Eventually, all relics disappeared into the dust of time.

Tsunade didn't doubt that would take long to happen. Her time was coming soon, closer and closer as the next generation grew.

And one day, before she knew it, they would be ready and she would have to wave goodbye for once.

While she doesn't regret Orochimaru dying—she just regrets losing him—she does wish that one of her old teammates could be around to see their world set. Instead she'll just set out three glasses, pour the sake in them, and pretend that they are having a party as they send her off.

…

…

…


	5. Apologies

**Title:** Apologies

**Characters:** Sasuke, Sakura, slight SasuSaku

**For:** _uchihablossom0626 _who wanted a SasuSaku for this drabble series. This is not exactly that, but it's close enough for now. And it's AU.

**Summary:** _He saw for the first time what he started that day at the bench._

…

…

…

…

…

…

For the first time, Sakura asked him to be quiet. If she had asked someone else, it wouldn't have seemed so odd. If it had been him asking her to be quiet, it would have been normal.

(Except, that 'normal' came from long ago and didn't exist anymore.)

As it was, even setting was strange. It was silent where they were, the distant clang of metal clashing a background noise. The battle already moved on, deeper into the village, leaving them behind to recover.

Or rather, her to recover. Sasuke didn't need to. With a few minor wounds, he was only there to keep an eye on her and stop any back-up from entering the city. Naruto, recovered already with his Kyuubi chakra, was fighting somewhere. He could tell by the giant explosions classic of the loud shinobi.

Bodies lie around them, some broken and twisted beyond recognition. Puddles of blood drenched the grass, the blade tips stained a permanent red. Even though some of the bodies were still alive, they did nothing to impede the creatures coming to feast on the carcasses . Some shinobi were conscious, unable to move due to injuries while others were at their last breathes.

Overall, a bleak picture. She lay nearby, her pink locks soaked a dark red and her eyes staring unblinking at the sky. Every now and then she would make the motion to move before stopping herself.

"I suppose they need me to heal," she finally said, her words cutting the silence. Her voice changed a little over the years, he noticed, but then again so did the rest of her. So did all of them.

She still didn't try to get up, momentarily content to just stare at the sky. "I should thank you, for saving me back there. For helping us out. For…" Her eyes flickered to him though she didn't move her head. "For listening to Naruto and coming back."

"…" He didn't reply; there was nothing to say.

"I guess he really was the only one you'd listen to." She chuckled, bitterly and broken, and for a moment he saw what he started the moment he left her on the bench.

"…Sakura" He started but she stopped him. It used to be vise versa and once again he was caught in unfamiliar ground, the quicksand swallowing him.

(He wasn't sure if he cared or not about this, wasn't sure what he thought about this except the overriding instinct to _ignoreignoreignore_ like usual. And that wasn't an option anymore.)

"Please, don't," she whispered. "Not yet. Please don't speak. I…I have this picture in my head right now. You're here because you want to, not because you have nowhere else to go, nothing else to do. Our—my friends are alive and safe and after this is all over, we'll be a team again or friends at least." She noticed his frown and hurried on. "I know it's dangerous, stupid even, to think like that, but at the very least, I want to see this picture for a few more minutes."

_A few more minutes and then it can return to the frame it will always remain in._ She didn't say those words but he heard them all the same. Those words weren't true but he wasn't the one to say why.

The clangs were getting dimmer and whether it was because the skirmishes were coming to an end or getting further away, he wasn't certain. He should go and fight, wanted to go and fight in fact, but she drew him in more, halting his decision.

She noticed his tension before he did and that hadn't changed at least. She just wasn't as good as she used to be at it.

"I'm holding you back again." She sighed, sitting up. "All of that training yet whenever I'm around either of you, I'm that child again. Unable to do anything, never enough." Standing up, she dusted herself off as she avoided looking at him. "There, we can go now."

He watched her smile at him, an awkward thing of cracks and sharp edges. He still didn't say anything, still had no words worth muttering.

Yet, as he followed her, he felt a tinge of sorrow because he helped create this girl and there were no amount of apologies that could fix that.

…

…

…

…

**A/N:** As it is, I'm busy with exams right now and I'm panicking slightly. Well, not panic, but I'm full of restless energy. That translates into more writing. More _drabble_ writing because I can't stay at the computer for too long before studying again. I might update my other drabble collections as well, but I'll probably end up focusing on this one.

And, make requests if you like this. ^-^ I want to practice with all sorts of prompts and characters.


	6. Flashbacks

**Title: **Flashbacks

**Day/Theme: **Sept 10 (2007)/To me, fair friend, you can never be old

**Character: **Jiraiya, mentions of Tsunade and Orochimaru, slight Jiraiya/Tsunade

**Summary: **_It's funny what one thinks of before they die. _

…

…

…

…

It's funny what one thinks of before they die. Jiraiya finds himself remembering the jar of sake he spent nearly a year finding. It was from Tsunade's favourite bar, something he planned on sharing with her on a nice day. He didn't buy it with that plan but now it is hard to consider what else he could have done with it. He should have done it before. Instead, it will remain under some cabinet, covered with cobwebs and left for some other person to use. Going to waste, most likely.

He also finds himself remembering the light green snake that was Orochimaru's first summoning. Back then, he couldn't summon anything big himself either and frogs bored him. He used to try to catch all sorts of mice to feed the reptile, sometimes even fighting with his teammate. Orochimaru didn't exactly fight, but he would argue and scuffle like the best of them when he really got going. With his snakes, he did. Jiraiya wouldn't always win but sometimes he did.

His vision is getting darker. Maybe in this other world, wherever he might be going, he could meet his old teammate. The one that existed before _he_ turned dark and twisted. He wanted to just so he could fight with him once more. He'd probably still end up losing—Orochimaru was really good at those games—but it would be fun. Maybe there isn't even an 'other' world.

He wants one. He has too many regrets and desires for his mind to just fade into the nothing it came from. Jiraiya still has to yell at Orochimaru for causing this cycle of hate, still has to ask Nagato why he turned into Pein, why Konan no longer smiles softly and folds small flowers. He still has to tell Minato that his son, though an idiot, isn't that bad after all and does have a chance to be Hokage.

Death is creeping up his spine, a slow creature that takes pleasure in cutting off his limbs one by one before eating his memories. Why does his life flash before him? He isn't sure and he doesn't want to see it. It'd only add to the list he needs to finish. Asuma, he remembers that brat, he was on to something with his smoking.

Jiraiya really needs a light, some of that cigar drawing into his lungs like an old friend. If he could move his fingers, maybe he'd try to find one. If he could speak, maybe he'd get a summon to bring one. No matter, there probably is a smoke where he's going. He could bum one off the brat.

Dark spots litter the edges of his vision and the clear, blue water is turning grey. Would Tsunade look her age for once if he could see her? Suddenly, he wishes he could see her one last time, hear her yell at him, see her frown or cry. Anything, really, as long as he can just look at her one last time. Not for a sentimental reason, one out of friendship or love—even to the end, he lies. He'd like to waltz up to her and tell her just how bad her betting sucks.

Next time she sent someone on a mission, she should bet on him losing.

The water is an inky, murky black now and he can't feel his limbs. His eyes flutter close and he can't tell if they are still open or not. Everything looks the same now. His body is limp and he feels tired. So very tired. Maybe a small nap—he's reaching the end, he knows it.

He wishes he had enough time for one last glass, a farewell drink. As his mind drifts off, he can feel the sake on his tongue and thinks it tastes tarty.

…

…

…


	7. Truth

**Title:** Truth is hard to find

**Characters/Pairings:** Sakura, that girl from the last chapter from Killerbee's team, hints of NaruSaku and SasuSaku

**Warnings:** References to the recent chapters. Uh, I hate how Kishi is making Sakura cry so much and have to get protected by Naruto. Didn't she progress so she didn't need this?

**Summary:** _She isn't sure anymore and that might be the problem._

…

…

…

…

…

Sakura stares at her worn-out and calloused hands, at her dusty, crumpled knees, at the bumpy ground—anything but that girl's sharp eyes.

_Who is Sasuke to you?_

That question repeats in her ears long after the other girl said it and the echo fades away. It still stays there, lingering in the air like a ghost, even though she is the only one still thinking of it. Even though no one else really cares about the answer.

It is easy, oh so easy, to say, "He's Sasuke-kun, of course." It is too easy to slip back into old habits and old clothes, like a snake shedding its skin in reverse. She could remember how she acted back then, how she felt back then, and if she wanted to, she could transform back into her old self.

(But she won't. She's changed over the years, after practicing and training and realizing just who she is and what she should do.

Apparently, so has he. A lot more than they had thought.)

She heard what that girl said and it doesn't make sense. Akatsuki and Sasuke, two things that don't go together at all from the very start. Yet that girl said that they are now joined, attached where once there was hatred and anger.

It makes no sense and at the same time it does because she knows what Sasuke would do to get what he wants.

Still, it is odd.

_How strange_, she thinks almost distantly, as though she is disconnecting with reality.

**Her **voice jars her out of reminiscing and she recalls the question.

_Who is Sasuke to you?_

A teammate, an old love, a friend, a…there are so many things he used to be that she could have chosen as an answer. All of them would have been acceptable. Except, they are not what he is now.

Naruto's hand lays heavily on her shoulder, anchoring her to reality. She should be grateful, really, but he is making this harder.

_Who is Sasuke to you?_

She looks at Naruto and thinks that she doesn't know the answer to that anymore.

…

…

…

…

…

…

**A/N:** Sorry for the long wait—exams were there last two months month. Ironically, summer school is making me write more. Anyways, the next two one-shots for here are ready so I might update twice next week.


	8. Dreamcatcher

**Title:** Dreamcatcher

**Characters:** Konan, Nagato, Yahiko,

**A/N:** I think that the loyalty that Konan had for those two is admirable. And that those two are douches for letting her worry and suffer with them and not do anything at all.

**Summary:** _She follows them and thinks this is just like how it began. _

…

…

…

…

She follows their bodies and thinks that even in death it is the same. Konan is still following them (_when will you ever have any dreams of your own, silly girl?_) but they have gone somewhere she can't follow anymore. She can't even remember when this game of tag started, only that she was always it, left behind to follow their trail.

(That was all she could do—watch and follow and hope that when they fell, she was there to catch them.

And now she can't.)

It wasn't out of love that she followed the two of them. At least not in the romantic sense—once upon a time it could have been but their eyes were always on the sky, waiting for that sunset.

(Once upon a time, she would have tried to get their attention, to get their eyes to look at the ground for once. Was the sunset really that important that they couldn't look at her for a moment?

To her, they were more important than any dream so she chased theirs instead. Chased them and their wants until she didn't remember what it was that she wanted anymore except that she wanted to stay with them.

She might have given up too easily.)

Instead, she was their patient sister and the worried mother, always waiting and wondering whether or not she should stop them.

Whether or not she could stop them.

She thinks she followed them for those pieces of running through the streets as fast as fast as she can (_never fast enough_) and the grins or sighs after looking at the spoils. The mornings where one was too tired to move and the other was too excited and the nights where they curled up next to each other because it was the only way to stay warm.

(Misplaced devotion—those days died long ago.)

She follows their bodies and she's almost glad that Nagato is dead. Or is she glad that Pein is dead? Pein wasn't Nagato but Nagato was Pein and the borders between the two just barely existed as the years went on. Nagato wouldn't have killed Jiraiya but Pein did. Pein did and what Pein wanted became what Nagato wanted.

So perhaps there was not much of a distinction between the two, just a difference in one existed before the other and then got swallowed by the other. Nagato's body is too thin, too bony, and maybe that means that Pein was a predator. He attacked and ate away at Nagato until there was nothing left but a dream.

Either way, his eyes are no longer filled with dreams that are not his, dreams that he stole and borrowed from Yahiko. They covered him in a cloak, filling him with not-Nagato thoughts.

(Oh, that is it.: Nagato wasn't Pein but Pein was Nagato and Yahiko combined.)

She wonders if she opened his eyes would she see the little boy's eyes again, the one that hated to fight? Or would it still be Pein?

Yahiko looked more like Yahiko now, at the very least. "You were an idiot," she sighs because he died and killed Nagato that same day, went and pulled her down too. "Now look—I'm alone."

She's not bitter—well, maybe just a little. It's hard to hate them, though, so she swallows that feeling down and instead laments on what _couldhaveshouldhavewouldhave_ been.

She follows their bodies and drops little flowers as she does so. It's funny how paper lasted longer than flesh and bone. She never pictured when she was younger, folding small squares into ships and birds (_triangles turn into squares which turn into diamonds)_, that paper would be her only companion.

Konan doesn't pause or hesitate as she walks. She knows where she'll take them. Even though it wasn't much of a place, with a roof that leaked too much, it was their home. The only home she knew that had a Yahiko and a Nagato but not a Pein. She thinks they'd like the gesture if they knew it.

Maybe she'll visit it every now and then, whenever she fears she's becoming a not-Konan. She'll visit and talk—maybe not talk because conversations with the dead would get her nowhere. Instead she'll sit and stare at the sky and think just how closer she is to getting the world into that peaceful state.

(She's not Nagato and she's not Yahiko and she's not the Kyuubi-vessel, so she doesn't take on the whole dream. Instead she grabs a small piece of it and works on it little by little.

She's not any of them but she's still the third teammate, the friend, the sister, the almost-lover, and she will still follow them.)

She puts the too thin and too bony Nagato down first. Pein was a parasite, taking away everything until there was nothing but a will coursing through the veins where blood should have been. His arms are too skinny and long as she holds him and it is only in his hair that she can recognize. The hair is rougher than it used to be, dry and coarse like the sun they wanted.

Yahiko on the other hand hasn't changed at all. There are pierces where there shouldn't be but other than that it is as though he fell asleep. His body is too cold, though, as if it had been centuries since life kissed his skin.

It had but when she puts a hand on her own skill, she still feels no warmth. Maybe she died with them, that Konan who used to follow and chase them. Maybe that Konan found a way to continue to follow them. She places that third not-body with them and thinks it's a fitting end.

(a fitting end because she's leaving them and she won't come back.

a fitting end because just like how it started, with her alone and lost, that is how it ends. She's still alone and she's still lost but this time she doesn't have hands to lead her on. There's just her own two feet and she thinks that it isn't too bad this way.)

When she buries them, takes their too cold flesh and their too broken ideals and places it in the ground, she cries flower petals and crane feathers.

…

…

…

…

…

…


	9. Dances

**Title:** Dancers

**Characters:** Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke

**Prompt:** Dancing

**Warnings:** Uh, pre-time-skip Sakura. Someone that no one has seen for a very long time and probably will never see for a very long time again. I wrote this out a while ago and only got around to typing it up now.

Also, pretend that team seven did all sorts of missions where they fought.

**Summary:** _In the beginning, they were dancers, and Sakura knew there was a reason she was the odd one out._

…

…

…

…

In the beginning, long before Sasuke or Naruto realized it (and why would they, with their blind eyes and their one-track minds), they were dancers. They had costumes of orange and blue, ninja outfits that were a little too loose and a little too bright for their parts. It didn't really matter, though, because they weren't ninja yet, just boys trying on shoes that are two sizes too big.

(Sometimes Sakura would don her red dress and wonder what it would look like if it was black, the colour of the silent deaths that flew in the night sky. But she was only a girl playing dress-up in mommy's clothes and would toss that idea out just as quickly.)

The props for their scenes were the cold steely in their kunai and the opponents—be they enemy ninja or each other. It didn't make a difference because either way a new dance would begin and either way it was just as beautiful and deadly to look at.

All ninja were dancers—Kakashi would regal them, when he felt like talking about it, with stories about men and women converging and falling, birds that flew for a brief moment before their wings got pulled out. Real ninja were dancers.

Sakura wished that she paid more attention during the special kunoichi classes when she learned to twirl and step in time with the music. Maybe that counted for nothing in the real world but at least she would feel a little more grace when she fought, feel a little more confident instead of thinking every falter as a blunder.

The only ones she could observe were Sasuke and Naruto. And as that was all she could do for a long time, she was able to memorize every step to their dance.

At first it was awkward, with stops and starts that ended in clumsy crashes and aching joints. They'd bump and hit each other, feet and arms colliding in chaotic patterns. Squabbling and fighting, it was more of a clash of sound and sights than anything else. Then slowly, as time progressed, they paid more attention to their movements and each other (_left foot here, kunai there, jab up_). It started to flow, currents mixing and matching until they found a way that worked, and they soon began to resemble the elite ninja they mimicked.

(And in more ways than none. The paints of childhood, of blooming black and blue bruises and bright red of scabbed knees, gave way to the adult make-up of grimy sweat and dark rivers of blood.)

Words weren't necessary after a while. Naruto would sometimes yell, showing off, and Sasuke would taunt with biting words, but they were more superfluous than anything else. The words were just there for the sake of noise, to fill their ears and cover the sound of bones crunching. They didn't need to talk to figure out just where the other one went, able to tell what to do next with just a glance. Naruto would go left if Sasuke went right; Sasuke would go up if Naruto went down. They slid into each other's blind spots automatically, getting what the other couldn't reach.

Sakura would watch them, spell-bound. It was better than any lesson, showing her all that she tried to learn in class.

Showing her all her faults through a clear glass, laying them on the table for her to inspect.

And long before she noticed how Kakashi didn't train her as hard or as deeply as he did the other two, Sakura realized that she really was the odd one out.

Dances are made for pairs, after all.

…

…

…

…

…

…


	10. Her Shadow

**Title: **Her Shadow  
**Day/Theme:** November 24 // behind a forced smile, I harbor a grown shadow**  
****Series:** Naruto  
**Character/Pairing: **Sakura, Sasuke, sort-of SasuSaku  
**A/N: **Slighty inspired by Fruits Basket--those who read it might be able to tell where. Sorry about the long wait for an update here. Anyways, this is a bit AU as it shows a possibility of what Sakura could have been.  
**Summary:** _He is everywhere, the shadow at her feet, and she can't tell if it will engulf her or leave her to drown._  
...

...

...

...

...

...

...  
He doesn't just appear in her dreams now. Not that he appears there as often as he used to, this creature from the abyss, but he still does all the same. She can make out each feature—the cold eyes, the straight lips, the marble skin. He isn't a god, like they all make him out to be. Instead he is a stone statue, frozen and unfeeling, and this is what she finds when she closes her eyes.

She fears she's turning into him, little by little. With each patient that dies, with each limb she cannot save, she loses a piece of her heart. Not that she doesn't try each time to improve, not that she doesn't take each break to work harder.

(There is anger and worry and suffering and _I am weak, I can't do it, I need more practice_—and she can hear the voice of a twelve-year-old boy over her shoulder, pushing her to train longer, further, to push her limits beyond what it should be. What it is.)

-x-

Sakura can almost see Sasuke in the trees when she's running. There he is, zipping past the trees, a dust figure on the dirt path. She follows him, just as she always does, urging her feet to move faster.

Now he's flitting from branch to branch, graceful and lithe and this comes to him with ease. Her own pursuit seems lazy, her limbs are cluncky weights that drag her down.

So she searches her memory for him—this comes too easy, he's everywhere now. At the store, at the school, at the hospital. On the roof, on the training grounds, in the piles of freshly cut apples that lie ruined on the floor. He laughs, that confident and degrading snort, and she sees his cocky grin in the mirror.

Sakura's not that bad, not yet. She still is kind, she still is careful, and she still is herself.

Then she finds herself lying, manipulating Naruto to do what she wants, and half-wonders if Sasuke hasn't already corrupted her.

-x-

She tries to imitate him, a copycat amongst copycats. If she had the sharingan, she couldn't have done much better. For now, her strides grow longer and her temper more tightly reined.

It's not enough, not really. He isn't perfect, just as she isn't, but his flaws bear more heavily than her own. She has always been impatient, it just increases, and when she explodes it is an earthquake. There are tremors and rocks shooting everywhere, her friends ducking for cover, and she can only stare at the mess after and wonder why.

Her reflection is now one of fire and night, a starless sky shining down on her. The truth is only told when convient, her sleep reduced to two hours each day, and she overtaxes her body constantly. She won't be that weak girl anymore. She won't be that girl who loved and broke and couldn't piece herself together on her own.

Instead she grows a wall, leaving a hole with which to view the world, and tries to get by with that.

-x-

She has dreamless nights now, dark and empty, and all she can see are the shadows within her, trying to get out.

...

...

...

...

...


End file.
